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Floor Speech

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Ms. ROSEN. Mr. President, today, we are here to discuss President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

If confirmed, Mr. Kennedy would be in charge of a Department with the power to, well, regulate the food we eat, the medicines we take, and the vaccinations we depend upon. He would oversee Agencies that provide healthcare to almost 170 million Americans, including hundreds of thousands of Nevadans who are on Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

I am here today to oppose Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as our next Secretary of Health and Human Services. Confirming him would have disastrous consequences for our public health, for our seniors who rely on Medicare, and for our families who get their healthcare through Medicaid.

Let's start out with his lack of qualifications. Mr. Kennedy has never worked in healthcare or the Federal Government. He is probably best known for his skepticism of vaccines and spreading dangerous conspiracies and outright lies. Mr. Kennedy's history of promoting anti-vaccine misinformation is well-documented and deeply troubling.

Vaccines have saved millions of lives throughout history, and they remain one of the most effective tools we have to protect public health. Yet Mr. Kennedy has spent years promoting debunked claims linking vaccines to autism, cancer, allergies, and autoimmune diseases. He has spread lies about vaccine safety, making people fearful and increasing rates of unvaccinated people, which put all of us--all of us--at risk.

He has previously stated that ``no vaccine is safe and effective.'' He said that the polio vaccine ``killed many, many, many, many, many, many, many more people than polio ever did.'' Mr. Kennedy has called the COVID vaccine the ``deadliest vaccine ever made.'' This rhetoric isn't just reckless; it is dangerous.

If Mr. Kennedy had been around during the first Trump administration, he would have undermined President Trump's Operation Warp Speed and efforts that helped us end the pandemic.

He doubled down during his confirmation hearing. Even though he was asked multiple times, Mr. Kennedy refused to acknowledge that vaccines don't cause autism.

He has also engaged in Holocaust distortion to push his dangerous views. While attending an autism conference, he was asked why the CDC wasn't acknowledging autism as an epidemic.

He said:

To me, this is like Nazi death camps, what happened to these kids. . . . I can't tell you why somebody would do something like that. I can't tell you why ordinary Germans participated in the Holocaust.

Frankly, these aren't the words of someone you want to be in charge of America's public health. These are not the words of someone you want anywhere near the White House or anywhere near our healthcare, our safety.

He has even gone so far as to falsely suggest that certain antidepressants are behind the rise in school shootings and that certain chemicals in the water might be part of why more young people are identifying as transgender, neither of which is backed by any science. We can't allow someone who spreads this kind of vitriol and dangerous misinformation to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, but his problematic views are just the start.

During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Kennedy was also asked about his understanding of Medicare and Medicaid. He was just asked if he knew about it. Well, he struggled--struggled, mind you--to remember which program covered older and disabled Americans. He struggled to remember which program provided for low-income people. This is Medicare and Medicaid--not something that is so brand new. Even Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., should know what it is because Medicare and Medicaid are not mere government programs; they are a lifeline for millions of Americans, including our seniors, our parents, our grandparents, people with disabilities, families in need, including half of all children and around 40 percent of all babies born in this country. Why would we trust someone with the future of Medicare and Medicaid when he doesn't even understand the basics of the system he would oversee? This makes no sense.

We can't overlook the broader impact of Mr. Kennedy's and President Trump's proposals on medical research, safety, and innovation. We are already seeing devastating attempts to go after the National Institutes of Health, or the NIH--the very institution that has pioneered lifesaving research in areas like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. This is not just any research; this is lifesaving research. We are talking about research and clinical trials in my home State, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and at the University of Nevada, Reno, to better understand Alzheimer's disease and improve care for patients. We are talking about advancing breast cancer therapy at the University of Nevada, Reno, and clinical trials on treating and preventing cancers at the Southern Nevada Cancer Research Center.

You know, I lost my mother to cancer, and I lost my brother to leukemia. I think it is shameful that this administration, enabled by RFK, Jr., would target research into these deadly diseases which have cost lives in my family. I don't want anyone to go through what I went through. I want other people's families--their parents, their siblings, their friends--to be able to live, and we know lives are saved every day because of investments in research and those clinical trials and what the NIH does. I want people to live because of the research. It matters.

Mr. Kennedy has also proposed radical changes to the Food and Drug Administration--the Agency in charge of the food we all eat and keeping it safe. Just like many of the other reforms proposed by Mr. Kennedy, his suggested changes to the FDA, while they are based largely on the conspiracy theories he peddles, include clearing out entire Departments, like the Food and Nutrition Center, which is responsible for preventing foodborne illnesses and ensuring that chemicals in food--the food we all eat, every single one of us all around this country, every day, from young to old and everywhere in between--that our food is safe. How does dismantling this keep any of us safe? How does it keep any of us healthy?

Mr. Kennedy has an overarching plan to gut the funding for the FDA, which will severely limit regulation and safe implementation of new drug trials and medications. This could lead to dangerous drugs flooding the market, putting countless lives at risk.

The role of the Health and Human Services Secretary is one of profound responsibility, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has undermined the very foundations of our public health system. Mr. Kennedy's vision for the future of our healthcare system--well, it was to undermine Medicare and Medicaid. He wants to slash cancer research funding. He wants to push dangerous public health conspiracies. These are visions and these are things that I cannot support and that no one should support.

We all want a healthier future for America, one that both prevents diseases and where we can think about curing diseases, where we can do preventive medicine, curative medicine, where we can have that hope for folks whose mother gets lung cancer in the future, that she might live, or leukemia in the future, that their brother might live. Mine didn't, but I hope that they didn't die in vain because the research that goes on will help others, and I want us to be able to cure diseases for the ones we love.

So that is why I cannot in good conscience support Mr. Kennedy's nomination, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. The stakes couldn't be higher. Our very lives and the lives of our loved ones may just depend on it.

Mr. President, I yield 30 minutes of postcloture debate time to the senior Senator from Oregon.

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